Don't Take the Girl
by Halawen
Summary: When the peace of the early evening at DeGrassi is interrupted by gunfire Clare, Drew and Dallas wonder if they'll make it out alive. Adam, Owen and their friends just hope to see them again. Will Dallas have the chance to tell Clare how he feels or will it be too late? Drama/suspense shot. Read A/Ns please.


_**Well it took bloody long enough for FanFiction to come back on line! Sorry this is so late I was incredibly frustrated that the site was down for so long. I did creat a Wattpad account but haven't actually done anything with it. Wattpad doesn't seem like the right place for me given most of the content and what I wirte. If any of you read on there let me know I might use at as a backup but probably only for one shots.**_

 **Welcome to the first shot in September one shot week!**

 **Legal: I own nothing but the idea.**

 **Stuff to know before reading:**

 ***This is a one shot with drama and suspense and contains possible trigger warnings so read with caution.**

 ***POV jumps around quite a bit, sorry for that but there was lots to cover.**

 ***Takes place in Clare's senior year a few weeks into the beginning of the school year.**

 ***Adam is not dead but did break up with Becky and is now dating Maya.**

 ***Clare did not get back together with Eli at prom and did not have cancer over the summer. There was also no Paris trip and Clare spent the summer working at the DeGassi summer camp.**

 ***Alli and Dave never broke up.**

 ***Owen goes to U of T and still lives at home.**

 **Don't Take the Girl**

 **(CLARE)**

"We just had a dance," I shake my head at Drew.

"They're good for student morale," he grins.

It's Thursday afternoon, Drew and I are mired in a student council business in prep for the meeting at lunch tomorrow. Principal Simpson left over an hour ago but Dallas decided to stick around and wait for us. Officer Turner will stick around until we leave and there might be another teacher or two here.

"Simpson won't allow another dance and I d…" I stop talking when I hear loud and rapid popping sounds. Drew gets up runs over and turning off the light then pulls me under the table. The popping sounds cease and we listen another minute but hear nothing. "I don't suppose someone was setting off fireworks in the school?" I ask nervously with as much hope in my tone as I can muster.

"I hope so but it seems unlikely with the bad luck this school has. Stay here," Drew orders getting out from under the table.

"Drew where are you going?" I yell at him in a whisper.

"To find out what's going on," he replies going to the door and I run over grabbing his arm.

"Are you crazy? Those were gunshots you can't just go walking about to find out what's going on!"

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing Dallas is out there somewhere," Drew responds.

"Yes and if he heard the shots he was probably smart enough to hide. Besides if you run out there and get yourself killed you'll be no use to Dallas. Think about Bianca, Adam, your parents and if you go out there then I'm coming with you," I assert.

"Okay you're right, let's call 911 then," Drew says pulling me back under the table. We reach up grabbing our backpacks from the table and searching for our phones.

 **(DALLAS)**

I was doing homework in the resource center while waiting for Drew and Clare to finish their student council meeting. I hear tires screech, yelling and then gun fire. I freeze for a moment and then I get up running down the hall to see what's going on. At the main entrance Officer Turner lies in a pool of blood! I see bullet holes in the trophy case, the wall, just about everywhere. I feel like I've just walked into some interdimensional bubble, this can't be real. I get tunnel vision all I see is Turner's body, I don't hear any sounds, all I can smell is his blood, I taste the gun powder in the air, and I feel numb and afraid all at the same time. I start to walk towards Turner to see if he's even alive but I stop when I feel something hard pressing into my back. That bubble pops and I know this is reality but now I can see and hear everything else. I don't need to see it to know it's a gun barrel pressed into my back. I see flashing lights outside and I know that the cops are here, it's only now that I realize the front door is barricaded.

"Don't do anything stupid kid you have a chance to make it out alive just do everything we tell you. Try anything at all and I will put a bullet in you," a man says in my ear and my heart is pounding, the reality of death is very real possibility at the moment. The man puts his hand on my shoulder and walks me to the plate glass windows at the front of the school. "Now then wave hello to the cops," the man says moving the gun from my back to my temple. I feel the cold metal on my skin and I shiver and become beaded by sweat.

I don't actually manage to pick up my hand to wave but it doesn't matter the cops see that I'm a hostage and the gunman pulls me back from the window. I know that somewhere in the school are Drew and Clare and all I can do is hope that they're both okay and not like Turner is.

"We should be away from the windows the cops could just start shooting anyway," another man says, there appears to be four of them but there could be others that I don't see.

"Let's find somewhere to stay out of sight, the news vans just pulled up," the man with the gun to me says and he seems to be the one in charge. He's still holding my shoulder and he pushes me to walk.

 **(OWEN)**

I pull up at Drew's house but I'm not here to see him or even Dallas. I'm not here to see Adam either; I'm here to get Tris and Maya. Adam's been dating Maya since August and she had a project to work on with Tris but she wanted to do homework at Adam's. I promised Mom I would pick the two of them up after my last class at U of T. Maya's staying our place for a couple of weeks while her parents are in California visiting Katie.

"Hey Owen," Adam says when I come in through the basement.

"We'll be ready in a moment," Tris tells me. A moment in their time means at least fifteen so I sit down on the sofa. Adam has the TV on, I'm not really sure what show he's watching but it gets interrupted by breaking news.

"We go live to DeGrassi Community School," the reporter says and all of us look at the TV, "where field reporter Tiffany Parker is standing by. Tiffany?"

"Thank you Jacob. DeGrassi Community School is under siege by a number of gunmen following a bank robbery. It appears that the robbers were under pursuit by police and wrecked their vehicle. The robbers took refuge in the high school. Most of the staff and students had already left for the day however there are reports that a police officer who, works security at the school, is down, we do not yet know the condition of the officer. There are also reports that they have at least one student hostage. The police will not release the identity of the officer and they are withholding any information on the hostage at this time. It is currently unknown if there are more hostages but we will remain here brining you live reports as the events unfold."

"Drew, Dallas and Clare are at the school still," Adam exhales with a terrified breath. His eyes are wide with fear, I can hear his heart pounding and I understand his fear with his brother, a boy he considers his brother and his best friend being held hostage.

"Owen," Tris speaks slowly and I already know what he's going to say.

"Everyone in my car we're going down there," I command and we all run out of the basement. We don't turn off the TV or even close the door just run out and jump in my car. I drive as fast as I can to the school, parking as close as I can and we all get out. We run over but are quickly stopped by a police barricade. "We have to get in there that's our school," I say to the officer. Okay it's not technically my school anymore but it was.

"We know people in there, my brothers and my best friend are in there," Adam pleads.

"Stay back kids we'll get them out safely," the officer tells us.

 **(DREW)**

"911 what's your emergency?"

"I'm calling from DeGrassi Community School we heard what we think were gunshots," I tell the woman.

"You're inside the school?" She asks in a voice that's trying to be calm but I hear the alarm in her tone.

"Yes, what's going on?"

"There's a hostage situation at the school, there are five armed men who have barricaded themselves in the school," she tells me and I look at Clare.

"What is it?" Clare whispers.

"Is there someone else with you?" The 911 operator asks.

"Yeah two of us in the student c…" I'm say but stop when I hear heavy footsteps approaching. "Someone's coming," I whisper into the phone.

Clare reaches over grabbing my hand in the dark, I squeeze her hand and we both stop breathing as the footsteps get closer. Thump thump…thump thump the footsteps approach and he's making no attempt to be quiet, it rather sounds like an ogre approaching or at least it's what I'm seeing in my mind's eye. The footsteps stop just outside the door and my heart stops beating. Clare moves closer to me, I feel her shaking, quivering with fear and then the door is thrown open and we see large black boots in the doorway. I put my phone down and push it away just as the man turns on the lights. Clare and I squeeze together trying to be as small as possible but it does no good, we can't be invisible and the man walks over lifting up the table and tossing it in the air and Clare screams.

"Shut up," he growls at her pointing a gun in her face and I instinctually get in front of her. Clare is crying now and shaking, all I can see is the gun and all I can think is that we both might die tonight. "Both of you get up," he orders. We're shaking too much to move and when we don't move after a second he gets angry. "I said get up," he snarls putting the gun against my cheek. Clare and I move, standing up slowly and he grabs her. "Start walking, face the front and don't try to run or I will shoot her between her pretty little eyes," he says to me and Clare chokes on a whimpering scream.

I start walking, out of the room and down the hall. I hear the man's footsteps behind us and Clare's shaking breaths. He tells me to walk to the principal's office so that's where I go. I'm praying we get out of this but it's the only thought on my mind. It all feels so surreal and a part of me thinks this is a dream, I must be having some nightmare and this isn't real. When we get to the administration office I see another man with a gun watching the cops outside. We come into Simpson's office and I see Dallas in a chair, his arms are duct taped to it and a gag of some sort is stuffed in his mouth.

"Dallas," Clare gasps when she sees him and he looks at her with fear and regret in his eyes. He likes her, he has for a while, I know he has he's just too chicken to tell her. I really hope he gets the chance to after today.

"I found these two but no one else I think the school is clear," the man holding the gun to Clare says to another man with a gun. There's a third gunman in this room that makes four so the other one is probably searching the school.

"You, sit," one of them says sitting me in one of the chairs. He holds me down with a hand on my shoulder and then looks at Clare. "Take the tape and tie him up," he commands handing her a roll of duct tape.

Clare is shaking so bad she can hardly take it, one man has a gun on me, one has a gun on her and there's a third armed man in the room with a gun. We can't fight and I have no idea what they want. A lot of thoughts race through my mind, outcomes for this situation and all of them seem bad. They could shoot us all. The cops could storm in and we'd get caught in the crossfire. Not to mention Clare's the only girl and these guys don't look like they have any limits, not that they've looked at her that way yet but if we're in this situation long enough who knows what they'll think.

"Tie him up stupid," the man growls pistol whipping Clare across the face and Dallas screams into his gag.

"Clare do what they tell you it will be okay," I assure her. I really have no idea if it will be okay but if she doesn't calm down they're going to shoot her.

"Yeah listen to your boyfriend and do as we say," the gunman instructs.

Clare takes a deep breath and unrolls some of the duct tape kneeling down to tape my wrists to the chair. She looks up at me apologetically but also with eyes full of fear. I try to give her a comforting look and go back to praying that the three of us make it out of this alive.

 **(OWEN)**

We pace outside the police barricades, there are news vans and several reporters but we don't want to talk we just want to know our friends are okay. More people have flooded the area; Dave is here along with his mom because his dad is the officer that's down in the school. Alli and Jenna are here, Simpson and Connor are also here. Audra showed up a few minutes ago and hasn't let go of Adam since, while yelling at the cops to save her kids inside the school and I know she's including Clare in that. It occurs to me that I should call Bianca, her fiancé is one of the hostages and she became pretty close to Dallas last year and Clare over the summer.

"Hey Owen we're in a study group can I call you back?"

"There's gunmen at DeGrassi and Drew is in the school along with Dallas and Clare," I tell her.

"What?"

"We don't know much other than Officer Turner was hurt, we're all down here."

"I'm coming I'll be there soon as I can call me if anything happens," she instructs.

"Yeah I will," I tell her and hang up.

"I've tried calling Clare a dozen times she's not answering," Alli says with tears in her eyes.

"Where's Clare's mom shouldn't she be here?" Jenna asks.

"I tried calling her house earlier no one picked up," Alli tells us.

"I have Jake's number, I know he's in Vancouver but he should probably know," I comment.

"Uh hi Owen," Jake says slowly. Probably because he gave me his number while working on a project in our senior year and I haven't used it since.

"There's armed bank robbers hiding out in DeGrassi and Clare's in there along with Drew and Dallas," I tell him and there's silence on the end of the line. "I thought you should know but also Clare's mom isn't out here and no one's answering at the house."

"They…" Jake begins but his voice cracks and he clears his throat, "They're at the cabin. Closing it up for the winter, no phone and no cell service I know a few people in town I'll call around and see if someone can go to the cabin to tell them. Is Clare okay?"

"We don't know, we don't know anything right now but the police have the school surrounded. I'll call you if anything happens."

"Yeah thanks," Jake says slowly and hangs up.

"Their parents are at the cabin Jake is trying to reach them," I tell the others.

"Why aren't the cops doing something? They're just standing around," Dave says in anguish.

"They're calling in and attempting to make contact," Simpson tells us.

"Why don't they just storm in?" Tris asks.

"Because if they storm in Drew, Dallas and Clare could get caught in crossfire."

 **(CLARE)**

I have Drew taped to the other chair and one of the gunmen tells me to sit on the desk. He warns me that he'll tie me up or shoot me if I try to do anything so I sit on the desk being as very still as I can. I'm shaking and I can't stop, I'm doing my best to breathe deeply and stay calm but surrounded by men with large guns it's not easy to do. Another man comes in and says no one else is in the school and then he leaves. The three men in here began talking about how to get out of this and what do with us. When the phone rings in Simpson's office I jump, the sound of it is grating, it's just a phone ringing but it's terrifying at this moment. I nearly scream but I suppress it in my throat and the gunman that appears to be in charge picks up the phone.

"If you come in we'll kill all the hostages, starting with the girl," he tells them and I begin crying while Dallas screams through his gag again.

The gunman talks some more, he must be talking to the cops and negotiating, I hope. I begin thinking about the possibility of death, of never seeing my mom again or my dad or any of my family and friends. I grip Drew's shoulder afraid that the three of us are going to die while the lead gunman continues making demands.

"They're going to bring us a car right up to the service entrance and let us out. They want to make sure these kids get home to their families. But just to make sure they let us out alive and don't try to shoot us you three are coming with us," the one in charge says and then presses the gun up to my chest. "Cut them loose, you two try to be heroes and I'll kill her," he tells Dallas and Drew and I start blubbering again.

I hear Drew and Dallas getting cut free and then gasp when the man grips the back of my neck pulling me off the desk. He tells me to start walking and holds the gun to my head, I'm sure I'm going to die, I feel the metal on my skin and hear the man's ring clicking against the gun. The phone rings again they must be saying the car is there because the man with the gun to my head asks Drew where the service entrance is and warns him if he lies I'll get a bullet in the head. I stop breathing and start shaking more, terrified that this is it. Dallas spits his gag out and chokes and I wipe my tears to look at him. I barely see anything with my eyes all bleary from tears but for a brief second I see his face. He's looking at me with a reassurance that we'll be okay and it's enough that I calm down a little. The man pushes me to walk, we're ahead of Drew and Dallas, the men with guns walk slowly in a circle around us but it's not for our protection, if the cops try and shoot them they will shoot us. We get out to the service door and I can barely make out a dark SUV at the bottom of the ramp.

"What if they try and follow us?" One of the other men with guns asks.

"Guess you're coming on a little trip with us girl, you'll be our insurance policy," the man with the gun tells me. Now I'm sure I'm going to die, they'll get somewhere safe and kill me once they don't need me anymore. Or I could be held captive for days while they standoff with the cops and who knows what they'll do then.

"NOOOO!" Dallas screams with a guttural ferocity, so loud and sudden the man with the gun to my head turns to look at him and the barrel leaves my skin. The next few minutes seem to last an eternity, playing out in slow motion as if to drag out the torture that much longer.

Dallas lunges at the man with a gun to my head, knocking into him sideways with enough force that they both fall to the ground. A shot is fired and I scream, Drew turns using his martial arts skills to knock the gun from the hand of the man holding it to his back. I hear running and yelling, a small metal device lands on the pavement and just as it begins emitting smoke another gunman points his gun at me and I instinctually get down and roll under the car. I didn't even think about it the act was a purely instinctual flee response. And then it's just chaos, I hear pounding feet, yelling and gunfire in this frightening symphony of cacophony. My eyes sting from the smoke and I have no idea where Drew and Dallas are, all I can do is pray that they're both alive. Then I'm grabbed by a couple of hands and I start screaming because I think it's one of the gunmen. I'm pulled roughly from under the SUV and I'm still screaming, my eyes still sting and are blurry but I just make out a patch on the man's chest. A last name and law enforcement insignia and I know I'm safe.

"Come this way you're safe now," he tells me but I'm not leaving yet and I begin screaming again. Only this time I'm not just screaming my head off out of fear.

"DREW DALLAS!" I shriek their names hoping for a sign of life but all I hear is yelling and chaos. "DREW DALLAS!"

"CLARE," Drew calls my name and his voice is strong, he's alive. On instinct I try to run to him but the officer holds to me tight.

"No let me go, let me see him," I plead with the officer. I'm not thinking at all I just know that I want to be sure Drew is alive.

"Clare," Drew says and this time he's not yelling, there's relief in his voice and when I blink my eyes I see that he's standing in front of me. An overwhelming sense of relief runs over me and I get out of the officers arms and embrace Drew. Clinging to him because he's alive. We've never been particularly close and only became friends over the summer but being embraced by him now and knowing he's alive is a comforting, happy feeling I can't even begin to describe. There's just one thing, as relieved as I am that Drew is alive I have not heard Dallas' voice since he tackled the man with the gun to my head.

"Dallas?" I ask Drew as the officers get us to start walking.

"I don't know I couldn't see him in the smoke," Drew admits. His voice filled with fret and hope and I look back at the smoke and the chaos but don't see Dallas.

The smoke is beginning to clear and I see at least two of the gunmen have handcuffs on. Drew and I get taken to an ambulance and sit together in the back. Two EMTs put blankets around us and we see Officer Turner being loaded onto another ambulance, he's pale but he has oxygen on and an EMT is holding a bag of blood being IV fed into his arm. I take that as a good sign because he wouldn't have an oxygen mask on if he was dead. The sight is still shocking and horrifying, I turn my head into Drew hoping that Dallas' condition is better than Officer Turner's. I look up again when I hear Dave running over calling to his Dad. Dave runs past us, a momentary look of relief and gratitude for our safety flashes on his face before it turns back to fear for his father. Dave's mom is running behind him and then Audra and Adam run over to us. They hug us tightly and Audra kisses us both, it doesn't even occur to me to wonder where my family is. I can't stop shaking and I'm really just happy to be alive. I have no idea how long we were in the school but it felt like eternity.

"Where's Dallas?" Audra asks.

"I don't know, all of a sudden it was like a war zone and I lost sight of him," Drew admits.

"Mom," Adam says quietly but we all look up to see Dallas being wheeled on a gurney, he's pale too and has an oxygen mask on and an IV with blood and fluids. I'm comforted by the thought that he's alive but it doesn't look very good and I start crying again.

"I'm going to ride with Dallas to the hospital, they're taking you both to the hospital to be checked out. Clare your parents are on their way they'll be here in a few hours," Audra says before running off.

"Dad's on his way he was in court," Adam tells Drew and he nods.

An EMT comes over and tells Adam if he's riding with us he needs to sit down. I don't remember getting up to sit on the gurney or the ride to the hospital. I remember screaming when we were at the hospital and they tried to take Drew from me. I don't really know why I screamed but they were trying to take him and I just instinctually screamed and clung to him. Drew wasn't letting go of me either so they took us into one exam room and Adam stayed with us and then suddenly Bianca was there. She must have come in but I don't remember it, I just remember her suddenly there and kissing Drew a lot.

"Miss we need you to lie on your stomach," a nurse says to me and I blink at her.

"Why?"

"You're bleeding Clare, your legs are all scratched up it looks like road rash," Adam tells me and I realize it must have happened when the officer pulled me from under the car although I never felt any pain.

I lie on my stomach and they start cleaning my legs, at the same time Drew and are both given oxygen, because we inhaled smoke from the smoke grenade. Drew has a few bruises and minor scrapes, I have one bruise on my face, the scrapes on my legs, we both have smoke inhalation and are suffering from shock but it could have been worse. When the nurse is almost done cleaning my legs Audra and Omar come in. They tell us Officer Turner and Dallas are both in emergency surgery. Officer Turner was shot three times but they don't know any more than that. Dallas was shot once, at close range in the abdomen and the doctors didn't tell them anything else. I feel like Audra and Omar are holding something back because they don't want to scare us and that just makes me more frightened.

After Drew and I were released we sat in the waiting room hoping for an update on Dallas and Officer Turner too. Owen was here with Maya and Tris, of course Dave was here and Alli was sitting with him along with Connor, Jenna and Mr. Simpson but they all told Drew and I they were glad we were okay. Dave's mom was here, sitting with her arm around Dave. Dallas' parents were also here, I had met them this summer when they came to visit Dallas. My mom and Glen came running in a little while ago and my mom was crying and hugged me a lot. They wanted to take me home but I refused to leave so Audra told them they would drop me off later. My parents signed my discharge papers and went home. Finally a doctor comes in and speaks with Dallas' parents and the Torres parents and then they came over to us.

"Dallas is out of surgery, the bullet hit his liver and barely missed his spine but they think he'll be okay after a few weeks in the hospital. His parents are going to stay tonight but he won't be awake until tomorrow so we should all go home," Audra says.

"Mom I think everyone should sleep at our house tonight. School's been cancelled tomorrow and Clare and Drew are still in shock. I'm pretty sure Clare and everyone would feel better if we're all together," Adam speaks up.

"Drew, Clare what do you kids want?" Audra asks.

"I'm not going to sleep and I'll definitely feel better if I'm surrounded by people I know," I reply.

"Yeah with Dallas in the hospital I want Clare with us because I can't get the picture of them holding a gun to her out of my head," Drew says quickly in a bit of a panicked voice. When he says this everyone else makes the same sort of gasping sound I suppose getting that same mental image in their head.

Owen says they're coming too and Audra says they'll call everyone's parents when we're back at their house. We say goodbye to Dave and the others and I tell Alli to call when they know anything about Officer Turner and then we leave.

I feel weird, like I'm not quite present and I'm still in the school with a gun to my head. The whole thing is playing on endless loop in the background of my mind and I still haven't stopped shaking.

 **(DALLAS)**

I'd been watching TV for about an hour, a hockey game was on but I wasn't paying much attention. It wasn't all the drugs they had me on either. Since waking up from surgery I hadn't been able to stop thinking about what happened yesterday. I saw it, everything playing out in slow motion over and over. My parents had apparently been here all night but I'd only been awake a couple of hours. They said I was very lucky because the bullet was a through and through and didn't ricochet around in my body doing more damage. It also missed my spine by about half an inch. It went through muscle, ligaments and made big hole in my liver but even that was lucky because the liver regenerates. I'll still be in the hospital for at least a week and have several more weeks of recovery after that but I'm alive. My parents told me Drew and Clare are both alive and only had minor injuries. Dave came in to see me just after I was awake. He told me his dad was going to live but would be in the hospital for a while and one of the bullets had shattered his pelvis. At this point they didn't know if his dad would be returning to the force but he and his mom were happy he was alive.

When I see Clare standing in the doorway I turn off the TV and my parents look at her.

"We'll go down and get some coffee," Mom says and kisses my forehead before leaving the room with my dad.

"Everyone else is here, they're just outside but I asked them to give us a minute," Clare tells me closing the door.

"I'm happy to see you alive," I smile at her pressing the button so my bed moves up.

"I'm happy to see you alive too but what on earth were you thinking? You could have been killed," she admonishes as she gingerly sits on the edge of my hospital bed.

"I wasn't thinking at all I just couldn't let them take you."

"You could have been killed, he could have just shot you and when I couldn't find you and Drew after the smoke I was so scared," she tells me taking my hand and her voice trembles. A couple of tears run down her cheeks and I wipe them away.

"I'm okay Clare, a little shot up but I'm okay," I smile.

"Mike that isn't funny," she scolds.

"I'm sorry, but I'm okay the doctors said I was lucky and it probably was an incredibly stupid thing to do but I couldn't let them take you. I would have done anything to stop them from hurting you at all because I care about you Clare, I care about you a lot. I like you and I'm going to be in here for a while but maybe when I'm out and somewhat mobile again we could go on a date?"

"Next time you want to ask me out just ask me out don't go getting yourself shot," she tells me before leaning down to place a soft salty kiss on my lips. "It's a date," she smiles before leaning down to kiss me again.


End file.
